Music blog + MGMT | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog+mgmt
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MGMT - Your Life Is A Lie: New musichttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/aug/05/mgmt-your-life-is-a-lie
New Yorkers Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden return with a new song and a video featuring doves, sobbing teenagers and Henry Winkler<p>Reading on mobile? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cye-1RP5jso">Click here to watch</a></p><p>MGMT's Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden are back with a new single Your Life Is A Lie, a short, sharp slap of surrealism. While it's not as stoned and sprawling as anything on their last album, Your Life Is A Lie is certainly trippy: it's packed with crunchy production, psychedelic sonics and a vibrant blast of Flaming Lips-like oddities. The new song also comes with a video directed by Tom Kuntz, who worked with the band on their video for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB7IAXrCkO8">Congratulations</a>. As the song's repetitive verse loops like a mantra, the video descends into vivid snapshots of fax machines, buckets, badges, talking dolphins, care homes, crying pebbles, crystal balls, doves, sobbing teenagers, Henry Winkler, hippies eating bananas, eggs, lizards, an ice cube on fire, babies in space and so much more.<br /><br />The band's self-titled third album is due out in September.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/aug/05/mgmt-your-life-is-a-lie">Continue reading...</a>MGMTMusicPop and rockCultureMon, 05 Aug 2013 18:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/aug/05/mgmt-your-life-is-a-liePRMGMTHarriet Gibsone2013-08-05T18:00:00ZSix Songs of Me: Pete from PeteHatesMusichttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/aug/10/six-songs-me-petehatesmusic
The <a href="http://www.petehatesmusic.com/">music blogger</a> picks the songs that mean the most to him as part of our <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/series/six-songs-of-me">Six Songs of Me</a> project<p>I'm Pete, and I'm the main contributor to <a href="http://www.petehatesmusic.com">PeteHatesMusic</a>. We feature a mix of songs that you like and songs that you don't know but are bound to like – or else. We also run miscellaneous posts with musical titbits that you can use to impress people with at fancy dinner parties; the kind of dinner parties that bloggers don't get invited to. <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHatesMusic">You can follow me on Twitter here</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/aug/10/six-songs-me-petehatesmusic">Continue reading...</a>MusicMadonnaMGMTU2Bee GeesThe BeatlesCultureFri, 10 Aug 2012 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/aug/10/six-songs-me-petehatesmusicSesame StreetCookie Monster … He lost his cookie at the disco, sadlySesame StreetPlayful learning games from Sesame Street TV, featuring Cookie Monster, above, and Nat Geo TV are coming to Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360Guardian Staff2012-08-10T08:00:00ZMcGee on music: Salute Dan Treacy, the last bluesman in Englandhttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/may/04/dan-treacy
The new album from the Television Personalities songsmith confirms that he is the poet laureate of working-class London<p>Sometimes pop music surprises me. Who would have thought MGMT were big <a href="http://www.myspace.com/tvpersonalities" title="Television Personalities">Television Personalities</a> fans? I was shocked to see they had included <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8BRCZuKq6w" title="A Song for Dan Treacy">A Song for Dan Treacy</a> (on their new album Congratulations), and it made me smile to think of their fanbase searching Google <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/may/05/dan-treacy-creation-records" title="to find out more about him">to find out more about him</a>. In the same way that Kurt Cobain introduced the world to <a href="http://www.hihowareyou.com/" title="Daniel Johnston">Daniel Johnston</a>, the song will have introduced many people to Treacy and hopefully persuade them to purchase the incredible Television Personalities back catalogue. A Song for Dan Treacy is an excellent example of a band jamming to promote, not destruct.</p><p>There is a bona fide musical cult surrounding Treacy, and MGMT certified their love by getting him to play on their tribute, making this the first time he's been in the top 10. And he deserves to be there. Treacy's influence has hit far and wide: whether on the MGMT tribute or on the Libertines, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/apr/24/mondaymediasection15" title="Arctic Monkeys">Arctic Monkeys</a>, Black Dice and, yes, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/apr/24/mondaymediasection15" title="Creation Records">Creation Records</a>. Don't kid yourself in thinking his cult is meaningless. You almost certainly own a record heavily inspired by Treacy. He's a post-punk Burt Bacharach, and his influence is nothing short of incredible.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/may/04/dan-treacy">Continue reading...</a>IndiePop and rockMusicCultureMGMTTelevision PersonalitiesTue, 04 May 2010 12:08:16 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/may/04/dan-treacyLinda Nylind/GuardianLooking for the hope in a hopeless situation ... Television Personalities' Dan Treacy. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the GuardianLinda Nylind/GuardianDan Treacy from the Television Personalities Photograph: Linda Nylind/GuardianAlan McGee2010-05-04T12:08:16ZMusic Weekly: Tunng and Broken Bellshttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/audio/2010/apr/07/music-weekly-tunng-broken-bells
We chat to folktronica band Tunng, hear an exclusive session track from Broken Bells and review new music from MGMT, Tracey Thorn and Fang Island <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/audio/2010/apr/07/music-weekly-tunng-broken-bells">Continue reading...</a>MusicPop and rockElectronic musicMGMTCultureTracey ThornFri, 09 Apr 2010 12:52:29 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/audio/2010/apr/07/music-weekly-tunng-broken-bellsPRTunngPresented by Alexis Petridis and produced by Peter Sale2010-04-09T12:52:29ZAnd in other news ... Prince annoys fans, againhttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/30/prince-fans
All the news that's fit to link<p>Fan loses patience, writes open letter to &quot;the dick formerly known as Prince&quot; <br />(Via <a href="http://themusictionary.com/?p=3720">The Musictionary </a>)</p><p>Ne-Yo in Miami. On a Segway. <br />(Via <a href="http://www.celebuzz.com/ne-yos-segway-tour-g184411i34149391/">Celebuzz</a>)</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/30/prince-fans">Continue reading...</a>MusicPop and rockUrban musicPrinceMGMTCultureTue, 30 Mar 2010 15:38:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/30/prince-fansJed Jacobsohn/GettyPurple pain ... Prince irritates yet another fanKirsty Wigglesworth/APPrince Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/APguardian.co.uk/music2010-03-30T15:38:23ZWhy are new acts so reluctant to show us their hits? | Priya Elanhttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/24/mgmt-kate-nash-hits
Yes, established bands get fed up playing old songs. But now bands who haven't even released an album won't play their big tunes<p>There's a Mary Whitehouse Experience sketch where the ubiquitous foursome are dressed up like EMF. Having just come off stage, they pretend to have forgotten to play their one real hit. I'm paraphrasing, but their banter goes something like:</p><p>&quot;What else can we play?&quot; </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/24/mgmt-kate-nash-hits">Continue reading...</a>MGMTMusicKate NashCultureWed, 24 Mar 2010 11:52:42 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/24/mgmt-kate-nash-hitsPRMGMT play their old songs with all the enthusiasm of 'reciting a shopping list'.PRMGMTPriya Elan2010-03-24T11:52:42ZAlbum preview: MGMT's Congratulationshttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/22/mgmt-congratulations
Let us know what you think of the brain-bending new MGMT album<p>You can only imagine the look on their record label executive's faces when MGMT announced to the press that their second album would have &quot;no singles&quot; on it. Not only that, but it would be produced by the legendary psychedelic adventurer Sonic Boom (aka Pete Kember of Spacemen 3) – a cult musical icon, for sure, but hardly a name associated with the ker-ching of cash registers.</p><p>So is the follow up to the poptastic Oracular Spectacular any good? Have MGMT been successful in taking their second album on a journey across more far-out terrain than just the pop charts? We teamed up with the <a href="http://www.we7.com">free music listening service We7 </a>so that you could make your own mind up. If you don't lose it along the way, that is ... </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/22/mgmt-congratulations">Continue reading...</a>MGMTPop and rockMusicCultureMon, 22 Mar 2010 12:09:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/mar/22/mgmt-congratulationsPRMGMT never let a good curtain go to wastePRMGMTguardian.co.uk/music2010-03-22T12:09:05ZThe bands who don't miss a single thinghttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/jan/20/bands-dont-miss-single-thing
Like Led Zeppelin and the Manics before them, MGMT are releasing their new album without the aid of any singles. But will this make fans judge their music differently?<p>&quot;We'd rather people hear the whole album as an album and see what tracks jump out rather than the ones that get played on the radio – if anything gets played on the radio!&quot; </p><p>That was what Ben Goldwasser of MGMT told <a href="http://www.nme.com/news/mgmt/49280">NME</a>, explaining why his band are planning to not release a single, er, single from their new album, Celebration.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/jan/20/bands-dont-miss-single-thing">Continue reading...</a>Pop and rockMusicCultureMGMTWed, 20 Jan 2010 12:12:28 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/jan/20/bands-dont-miss-single-thingPRSingled out ... MGMT want fans to listen to their album as a wholePRMGMT Photograph: PRRob Hastings2010-01-20T12:12:28ZMGMT's Time to Pretend is OMM's track of the yearhttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/dec/06/popandrock1
MGMT's Time to Pretend is Observer Music Monthly's favourite track of 2008. Frontman Andrew VanWyngarden tells us about the inspirations behind the song. Plus, find out who features in the rest of our top 20<p><strong>1. Time to Pretend, <a href="http://www.whoismgmt.com/">MGMT</a></strong><br />'This is our decision, to live fast and die young/We've got the vision, now let's have some fun,' sang Andrew VanWyngarden with dreamy insouciance on this satire on – or paean to? – rock's most shameful excesses. When he wrote the track with Ben Goldwasser in 2004, both were two wide-eyed Wesleyan college kids in Connecticut. As it turns out, Time to Pretend (originally titled The Mantis Sailing Home) proved less the in-joke and more a prophetic heralding of their future. Genre-blending psych-pop, the track became a freakbeat theme for the Skins generation. Then Radiohead and Oasis and rock fans everywhere discovered the tune, too.</p><p><strong>OMM:</strong> <strong>You wrote Time to Pretend in 2004, when you were still at college in Connecticut?</strong><br /><strong>Andrew VanWyngarden:</strong> That's right. I was at a yard sale and there was this old wooden model pirate ship. On the boat was this giant preying mantis so I bought it. It was a great pet to have. It's actually the state insect of Connecticut. We would have dance parties and she loved to dance. Her favourite song was Overpowered by Funk by the Clash. It was a party house that we were living in, with five good friends. Ben made a loop of music that was inspired by the movements of this preying mantis. He played it to me and I thought it was cool and initially it was called The Mantis Sailing Home. It was like a joke song.<br />We performed it like that a couple of times and then we had access to a school studio and we decided to record a couple of tracks. That song, Time to Pretend and another song called Boogie Down. I wrote new lyrics talking about a joke fantasy of us becoming rock stars and getting really famous and becoming huge touring musicians. It was funny that we were just these two kids in Connecticut. We hadn't played a show outside our tiny little campus. We played it a few times at the end of the year. Then we put it on an EP. An intern at Columbia passed the EP onto an A&amp;R woman and she liked it. That's the reason we got signed I guess.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/dec/06/popandrock1">Continue reading...</a>Pop and rockMusicCultureMGMTSat, 06 Dec 2008 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/dec/06/popandrock1Tim Mosenfelder/CorbisAndrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser of MGMT. Photograph: Tim Mosenfelder/CorbisSarah Boden2008-12-06T09:00:00ZFresh links: If drum machines could talk, what would Coldplay's say?http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/mar/07/freshlinksifdrummachinesc
MGMT in London, Coldplay auction off drum machine and Biggie biopic one step closer<p></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/mar/07/freshlinksifdrummachinesc">Continue reading...</a>MusicCultureMGMTFri, 07 Mar 2008 07:00:40 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/mar/07/freshlinksifdrummachinescGuardian/Music2008-03-07T07:00:40Z